Players use lighting to create thrills in production of 'Wait Until Dark'

To coincide with the Halloween season the River City Players decided to take on a thriller in the hope of giving audiences a good fright.

And while it isn't the most polished of the Players' work, "Wait Until Dark" does use the tactic of lighting, or lack thereof, to good use in creating a thrilling end.

Many people might recognize the name of the play by Frederick Knott from its 1967 movie adaptation starring Audrey Hepburn. In "Wait Until Dark," a young, recently blinded woman is made a pawn in a drug smuggling game by three thugs, two of them regular street goons (Blake Russell as Mike and Matt Frey as Carlino) and one a twisted sociopath (Bryan Parker's Roat).

The three criminals try to con Carly Pind's blind character, Susy Hendrix, as they search for a heroin-stuffed doll that has been hidden in her apartment.

Pind gives an admirable performance as a blind person, only rarely letting her eyes focus on people and objects like someone with full visual capacity. She also lends a certain cuteness and deceptive defenselessness to the role of Susy that gives credence to the performance.

Bearing the burden

Without a doubt Pind carries the acting burden on her shoulders, delivering the best performance in her lead role and taking several hits some of the time in some very physical scenes.

Parker also shines through at times as Roat, with his hellish snarl and cutthroat ethic, even though at times Roat seems less character and more exaggeration.

The set design by Tim Roth is, as always, rich in detail, pulling off the look of a Greenwich Village basement apartment nicely.

But lighting is key to the production, as Susy turns the tables on the crooks by throwing them into the darkness she lives in every moment. When the lights go out is when the action really picks up.

You can't see clearly what's happening, which heightens the senses that much more. The audience becomes as blind as Susy and experiences the world as she does -- a world of darkness that makes her an easy target for a twisted con game. A world where she has home field advantage.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182